The Flaming Teenage/Review

To begin with, the largest section of this movie is made up by a previous roadshow "Preachy" entitled, Twice Convicted, which is an account of a drug addict who reverses his life by finding God. Only in exploitation-land can a film lure the audience into false advertisement by thinking this is another "Youth gone wild" picture (Take me, for example!)

Alright, so the film begins with a narrator talking directly to us about the usual perils of drug addiction and how juvenile delinquency is on the rise...Yadda, yadda. We get introduced to a young chap named Tim, who has just been booked for public intoxication. Back at home, Tim's dad makes it a mission to educate his boy on the dangers of drinking by taking Tim for a field trip to all the neighborhood bars(?!?!) Oooh-kay! But there's a reasoning to this decision as the father shows Tim just how erratic and destructive bar patrons can be. So what I got from this message is that it might okay to have yourself a drink every now and then, but it shows you how much of an ass you become when you drink too much in public. By the way, all this footage (Including Tim's flashback prior to being arrested) is the only footage of this "movie" that appears in the trailer.

So once Tim and his dad exit from the bar, the movie ends. Or, to be more specific, The Flaming Teenage ends and Twice Convicted begins (We thankfully have the narrator to tell us this otherwise we would all be in a state of confusion) so this "new" movie that we're about to watch is the story of Fred Garland (Noel Reyburn) A guy who had a very eventful life from being a store-owner, theater actor and theater producer. But his drinking, gambling, and heroin addiction will eventually leave him on the skids. After serving time for grand larceny and some pathetic shopliffting to ease his addiction, he feels that God has entered his life by giving him a second chance. I have yet to research to see if this was all really a true story (More power to the guy if it is true) but as a film by itself, it's a by-the-numbers approach for this type of genre film. It's no surprise that I perferred what little I saw of The Flaming Teenage and would have loved to see more. But the Grindhouse-Gods weren't in full force at this moment. Only allowing about 15 minutes of film and 1 sweet looking poster to try to wet my appetite. Too bad the appetizer turned out to be so small.

Reviewed by Laydback